


be it ever so unfurnished

by timberwolfoz



Series: won't be long before I cave in [4]
Category: New Blood (TV)
Genre: M/M, Post-Series, Pre-Relationship, oblivious adorable prats
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-20
Updated: 2017-04-20
Packaged: 2018-10-21 07:25:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,225
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10680528
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/timberwolfoz/pseuds/timberwolfoz
Summary: Rash and Stefan spend their first night in their new place.  Sleeping on one air mattress.  Yeah.With thanks as always to mcicioni for introducing me to these two adorable prats and for the beta work, and to pantsaretherealheroes and Heliophile for enouragment.





	be it ever so unfurnished

"This reminds me of sleepovers when I was a kid," said Rash, as they lay side by side on the air mattress in the living room of their new house.  "Especially when I'd stay with my cousins.  We'd all sleep in the front room and be up watching TV or whatever until my aunt or uncle would tell us to 'QUIET DOWN AND GO TO SLEEP.'"

"Never went camping?" asked Stefan.

"What, in London?" said Rash incredulously.

"No, though I suppose you could in the parks if you got permission.  No, I meant out in the country."

"No.  No, I never did that.  Did you?"

"Not here, with my cousins in Poland.  Before we left, and when we went back in summer.  Or we'd just sleep out in the fields," Stefan explained.

"Sounds like fun.  The sleeping in the fields bit, I mean," said Rash.

"It was," said Stefan.  "That's one thing I miss, living in cities – you can't see the stars."

"How long since you've been back?" asked Rash.

"I went back the summer after I was recruited by the SFO, when I'd saved up a little money and we were sure they wouldn't grab me for nine months of military service," said Stefan.  "Haven't managed since – always been something else to do or something else I needed to spend it on."  He nudged Rash.  "Hey, if we can manage it, want to go _this_ year?  Go over in summer, meet my family, see the place a bit?  Should be able to do it on the cheap."

"Sounds good, I'll have to learn some Polish before then," said Rash.

"Well if you can, you'd earn major points with my family," replied Stefan, his sentence ending with a yawn.

"Yeah, we'd better try and sleep," said Rash.  "Gotta be presentable and coherent tomorrow."

"Yeah," said Stefan.  "G'night, Rash."

"G'night, Stefan."

But Stefan didn't fall asleep.  In fact he found himself getting tenser and tenser, his hands clenching into fists, trying to regulate his breathing so that Rash, at least, had a chance to sleep.

He should have known better, as Rash stirred beside him.  "Stefan?  What's going on?"

Stefan blew out a breath.  "Sorry.  Try and sleep."

"Sod that.  What's up with you?"

Stefan shrugged.  "Bad memories.  Feeling a bit jittery.  Sorry," he said again.

"What happened?" said Rash gently.

Stefan rubbed his hands over his face.  "When I first left uni.  Had to live in some shitty places for a while.  This … lying on the floor with a duvet… and hearing your sleeping bag… just brings it back."

He felt Rash shift next to him, raising up on his elbow to look at him.  "Would it help to talk about it?"

Stefan shrugged.  "What's to talk about?  Nine months of couch surfing, sleeping in shitty hostels and bedsits.  Sleeping in sleeping bags or cocooned in the largest duvet you could get because the bed was too dubious for you to touch it, or there was no bed at all."

_"Jesus,"_ said Rash.  Hearing Stefan gulp beside him, he asked, "You OK?"

"No," said Stefan, gulping.  "Gotta get out of here – "

"OK, wait a sec, let me get the keys," said Rash, kicking his way out of his sleeping bag and grabbing the keys where they lay beside him.  "Turn your phone screen on," he instructed Stefan, who was now breathing in short, panicked breaths.  "OK.  Door's this way.  That's right.  OK, left, into the kitchen.  OK, there's the back door… hold that up so I can unlock it," he instructed Stefan.  He unlocked and opened the door, all but shoving Stefan out.  "Go!" he hissed, making sure the door wouldn't slam shut and lock them out before following Stefan, who had raced into the middle of the garden and was standing in the knee-high grass, bent over with his hands on his hips, the duvet half-falling off him, breathing in deep, whooping gasps.  Rash followed suit, grabbing half the duvet and wrapping it around him as he started to shiver.

"Shit!  Sorry," said Stefan.

"'S'fine.  But keep your voice down, we'll be lucky if the neighbours don't call out the police on us."

Stefan gave him a sudden grin.  "I thought you were the police," he said, earning himself an elbow in the ribs and an amused glare from Rash.

They stood there, pressed against each other and clutching the duvet around themselves, shivering in the cold night air as Stefan's breath slowed.

"You feeling better?"

"Yeah," he said, letting out a long breath.  "Thanks.  Sorry."

"S'fine, it's not your fault!" said Rash.  "We'll move the mattress closer to the window when we go in, so we can see out.  Or do you need to move out here?"

"God, no, too cold," said Stefan. 

"Shame, it's kind of nice out here," said Rash.  "We should do it when it's warmer."

"Yeah, sounds good," said Stefan, lifting his head and taking a deep breath of the night air.  "Hey, look at that."

"Yeah," said Rash, looking up at where the clouds had parted.  "Stars.  Which ones are they?"

"Not sure, I'd have to check," said Stefan.  "Too much cloud cover to get my bearings."

They stood, gazing up in mute appreciation until they both shivered again and Rash gave Stefan a friendly nudge.  "Come on, you muppet."

They shuffled in in an effort to keep the duvet around them, Stefan whistling the theme to _The Muppet Show_ while Rash shook his head at him tolerantly.  Rash relocked the door behind them, then, by the light of Stefan's mobile phone, they made their way back to the living room, Rash tossing aside his sleeping bag as Stefan pushed the air mattress up to the front window, spreading the two spare duvets over it and taking Stefan's from his arms and putting it on top before sliding under it, holding the other half back for Stefan.

"You sure?" said Stefan.

"Yeah, we'll be needing the extra heat," said Rash.  "Just keep your cold feet off me."

"I'll try," said Stefan, not rising to the bait as he slid in under the covers.  "Thanks, Rash."

"No problem," said Rash gently.  "Sleep well."

"You too."

* * *

 

The next thing Stefan was aware of was the fact that he was very warm, very comfortable, and Rash was hissing in his ear, "Get _off_ , Stefan.  I'm not your bloody girlfriend!"

"Or my boyfriend," said Stefan drowsily, his eyes snapping open as he realised, firstly, what he'd said and secondly, that he'd snuggled up to Rash in the night, an arm and a leg thrown over him.

To his relief, Rash only snorted with laughter.  "Yeah, in your dreams, mate.  G'wan, get off me, your nose is cold.  Go have a piss or something, I'll boil the kettle."

"Don't you need one?" asked Stefan.

"Nah, I'm good, got up at about 4, you were out like a light, didn't even twitch," explained Rash.  "Go on.  It'll take longer to get ready, especially if we have to sponge wash."

"Less time on the train, though," pointed out Stefan, rolling off the air mattress and getting to his feet and heading towards the living room door, yawning and scratching his belly as he went.

Rash flopped back dramatically onto the mattress, covering his eyes.   _"Why_  did I say I'd share with a bloke," he groaned. 

**Author's Note:**

> So, this was originally written about a month back. Ooops?
> 
> However, I have been working away at what was supposed to be a slightly longer fic about Rash and Stefan getting together (oh, you all knew it was going to happen), which I've just finished the first draft of and which has just tipped over into novel-length, word-count wise. You may or may not have heard me sobbing 'but I can't write crime plot'...
> 
> Anyway, as an indirect result of all the writing and plotting and reviewing of the series for said writing and plotting, I ended up pretty much rewriting the whole story. There's one line from the original, I think.
> 
> Hopefully I won't make you wait another month for the next fic, though I make no guarantees about the novel. *g*


End file.
